A Booth Level Officer (BLO) in Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh was assaulted and threatened after he denied removal of Muslim voters from electoral rolls during Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
The officer, Ashwini Kumar who is a teacher by profession was working for booth number 323 in Munj.
He was allegedly halted by a car when he was returning after distributing Election Commission notices. The man in the car, reportedly from BJP threatened him to remove voters belonging to minority communities from the list.
In a video recorded by Kumar, he alleged that he was grabbed by his collar and assaulted and that the accused along with his accomplices broke his phone and snatched documents from him.
He alleged, “I was told to remove Muslim voters and when I refused, he grabbed me by my collar, beat me and threatened to kill me.”
Kumar sustained injuries during the assault. He filed a police complaint at th Chaubiya police station. The police initiated the investigation and reviewed the CCTV footage. As of now, the police have not arrested any individual while questioning continues.
The local leaders of BJP have claimed that the party members have no role in the assault. A district BJP spokesperson said, “The party does not encourage any such illegal actions. If anyone has participated in any wrongdoing, they should be punished.”
Meanwhile, the State Election Commission has acknowledged the incident and assured that electoral process will be conducted fairly and promptly.
One of the senior officers said, “Any kind of attack or coercion on election officials is considered as a serious matter and it will be investigated promptly.”
On social media, social activists stressed that the incident may point to a wider pattern of attempts to suppress minority voters and intimidate booth-level officers.
The officer, Ashwini Kumar who is a teacher by profession was working for booth number 323 in Munj.
He was allegedly halted by a car when he was returning after distributing Election Commission notices. The man in the car, reportedly from BJP threatened him to remove voters belonging to minority communities from the list.
In a video recorded by Kumar, he alleged that he was grabbed by his collar and assaulted and that the accused along with his accomplices broke his phone and snatched documents from him.
He alleged, “I was told to remove Muslim voters and when I refused, he grabbed me by my collar, beat me and threatened to kill me.”
Kumar sustained injuries during the assault. He filed a police complaint at th Chaubiya police station. The police initiated the investigation and reviewed the CCTV footage. As of now, the police have not arrested any individual while questioning continues.
The local leaders of BJP have claimed that the party members have no role in the assault. A district BJP spokesperson said, “The party does not encourage any such illegal actions. If anyone has participated in any wrongdoing, they should be punished.”
Meanwhile, the State Election Commission has acknowledged the incident and assured that electoral process will be conducted fairly and promptly.
One of the senior officers said, “Any kind of attack or coercion on election officials is considered as a serious matter and it will be investigated promptly.”
On social media, social activists stressed that the incident may point to a wider pattern of attempts to suppress minority voters and intimidate booth-level officers.